All Their Faith
by Elly-275
Summary: (Re-Upload of "All His Faith" with edits.) Within The Covenant, Warriors of all species must show devotion and great faith within its ranks.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One  
Location: Fatum Keep, Eur Region, Sanghelios  
Date: March 29th, 2510 (Human Calendar)

Night had fallen on the Eur Lake, the twin moons, Suban and Qikost, danced along the surface of the water as the young warrior Nessus watched quietly outside, insects chirping outside had kept him awake, his hatch day had been splendid and yet, his mind was restless.

Nessus was given an Arum for his 10th Hatch day and he was quietly at work on the puzzle sphere, something that taught patients to warriors like himself, yet he couldn't quite get it.

He huffed quietly, clicking his mandibles together as he breathed slowly, thinking of his next move with the puzzle, fingers dug into the slots to move the pieces in place, he almost had it, Nessus could feel it in his bones.

Soon, the pieces aligned, the puzzle was solved and Nessus' eyes grew wide with excitement as he tipped the ball to the side and shook it, a small light blue sphere flopped into his open palm, an aquamarine, and one that shone with brilliance in his own blue eyes.

Without warning however, his mother opened the door and glared at her son, "I told you to get some rest a few cycles ago." She said. Her arms crossed.

Nessus moved his mandibles into a frown and held up the gemstone for his mother to see, to which she nodded approvingly, "I am proud my son, but rest right now is more important, get some sleep before I have to scold you." She said with a soft growl.

He nodded and sighed with a soft smile, looking at the pretty gemstone as he lay down in bed, he then placed the stone under the pillow before looking back outside, a few drop ships flew above the Keep as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Nessus was woken up by his mother calling him downstairs, getting up from his bed, he checked under the pillow and found the gemstone was gone, in a panic, he ran downstairs, "Mother, my gemstone is-" He started to say before seeing a string in his mother's hand, at the end of it was the gemstone, attached to a piece of metal, a necklace.

Nessus smiled and took it in his hands and rubbed at the stone in between his fingers before looking at his mother, "Thank you." He simply said before giving her a brief hug, the smell of colo meat filled the air of the cabin they lived in, a favorite of Nessus' as he sat down at the table with his mother.

His mother looked at her son with a proud smile, happy that he solved an Arum rather quickly; it showed he had promise and brought her great honor. The two of them ate relatively quietly as the suns were just hanging above the keep, shadows casting across the dining room as Nessus chewed on his few.

Outside were the sound of the other younglings about to gather for training down in the Keeps courtyard, Nessus finished his meal and got up from the dinner table and was about to head for the door when his mother stopped him.

"Forgetting something little one?" She said, hands on her hips as she stared at Nessus. He ran back up to her and hugged her tight before heading outside to join the others.

Nessus looked around like he always did at the array of stone structures that ran down the hill towards the lake, each building had its own touch as each family added a coat of arms to represent their family lineage, something Nessus' home had as well, despite the different coat of arms, they all remained as Fatum's.

Further down the hill was the training ground, a fairly large circular building made from old parts of a Covenant battleship, the building itself looked like a large beetle; its carapace shone bright purple in the suns light.

Inside were the other warrior children, hard at work to train with one another, sticks in hand as they swung and batted at each other, Nessus soon grabbed his own training stick and joined a few of the others in combat.

Nessus always excelled at hand to hand combat, something he himself grew bored of since no other warrior there could quite match him, some came close while others resorted to cowardly tactics such as multiple fighters at once, but Nessus managed to take them on anyways, despite the brutal loss, he got back up and vowed to improve.

A few of those children in question walked towards him, heads held high in overconfidence as Nessus looked back at them, making a low growl towards them as a warning.

"My my, little Nessus is trying to act tough once again!" Said one of the Sangheili, his name was Re'ist and he was taller than the other children in the training room, but Nessus stood tall, unflinching towards his opponent.

"What do you want this time Re'ist?" Nessus said with another growl, eyes darting towards the other children as they moved beside him, preparing for another ambush.

"Oh nothing, I just saw that you have a little trinket that I fancy and wish to take from you, a little puny thing like you doesn't deserve a prize like that!" He said, cracking his knuckles, Nessus stood defensively now as he grasped at his gemstone around his neck, he wasn't going to let any of them have it.

Just like he thought, the two Sangheili beside him charged right at him, attempting to grab at his arms while Re'ist went for the kick towards his stomach.

Nessus dodged the first blow as he grabbed the Sangheili's arm to his right and swung him into Re'ist with a load grunt from him.

Re'ist recovered quickly and made a low hiss towards Nessus before charging, the second warrior charged as well as he ducked under Re'ist and grabbed him by the hip before lifting him up and slamming his head into the deck plate with a load thud.

Re'ists friend stopped just short of hitting Nessus when he looked down at his friend who lay motionless on the floor, eyes glazed over as Nessus panted and made a low growl.

An adult walked over to see what the commotion was, only to find the dead Sangheili lying on the floor, Nessus soon realized what he had done and backed away slowly and looking at the instructor, who gave him a reassuring smile, he had done well, but Nessus had felt otherwise…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:  
Location: Fatum Keep Training Grounds, Eur Region, Sanghelios  
Date: March 30th, 2510 (Human Calendar)

At the other end of the training room from all the commotion stood a female warrior named Sere, she herself hailed from the Keep across the lake, the Calum Keep.

Once she had heard a Sangheili had just died, she went to investigate, seeing the body lying on the floor, motionless, and the Sangheili who did it had back away from his kill. Although a Sangheili's blood shouldn't be spilled, that warrior had no reason to be ashamed, the one on the floor was clearly a wink link in the Covenants chain and would have been a problem in the future.

However, Sere was curious about this warrior in general, she caught the name of him, Nessus.

Females like Sangheili were rarely let into training with other males, let alone ones wishing to join the Covenant Military, but Sere made it her goal to get in, for the honor of her Keep as well as other females like her that didn't wish to be cooped up back home. That lifestyle didn't fit Sere at all.

Nessus however had a look of great shame on him; he had spilt the blood of his brothers and he felt it, Sere knew it would be something they would have to get used to in order to make it into the military, otherwise you were left behind from the Great Journey.

Sere walked over to Nessus and punched him in the arm, hard, in order to snap him out of what he was doing, to which Nessus shook his head and looked at her, "What in the gods names was that for?!" He exclaimed.

"To get you back into focus nishum!" She growled, Nessus looked at Sere and noticed her two different colored eyes, one red, one light blue like the color of the moons. He looked at her for awhile longer before nodding, "Thanks I guess…" He said, Sere patted him on the shoulder before glancing over at the body, she then noticed another Sangheili staring at Nessus himself, anger in his eyes, fury…the eyes of one who wished to get revenge on his friend.

"Let's get moving…" Sere said, grabbing Nessus by the arm as he stumbled slightly before catching up with her steps. Now that Nessus was back in focus, he noticed that Sere's skin was a light brown color; she was a Calum he realized.

Sere took Nessus outside into the outer training courtyard, away from that other Sangheili as she stopped Nessus in front of him and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Why did you bring me out here?" Nessus asked, looking back at her.

Sere didn't answer and instead pulled out two training sticks and threw the other at Nessus.

Nessus looked at the stick confused before looking up to see Sere swing at him, giving him barely enough time to block. Both sticks striking with a loud CRACK as Sere came at him, relentless in her assault.

Sere meanwhile was hoping Nessus would fight back, but so far he was on the defensive, his mind had been shaken and she needed to snap him back to reality before he was cast aside.

Nessus was growing more impatient with this female warrior as she continued her assault on him, he continued to block until he moved around her and swept her leg out from under her before aiming the stick at her throat.

Sere looked back up at Nessus and simply smiled, "Good!" She said, "I knew you weren't completely worthless after all."

Nessus blinked and back up as Sere got up, brushing herself off before punching him in the shoulder, "The name's Sere." Nessus just looked at her before answering, "Nessus…what was all that about?" He asked

Sere had her arms crossed, "You had your head up your own ass and it would have been a problem…especially since there's now a Sangheili out for your head." She said, looking Nessus up and down, he wasn't quite as muscular as the other younglings, but that didn't mean that was a bad thing.

Nessus looked down and rubbed at his gemstone, something he found he'd do out of comfort, Sere was right, Re'ist's friend would come after him sooner or later, he was capable of taking him, but mentally he wasn't, taking another Sangheili's blood was supposed to be shameful as much as an assassin.

But Sere would snap him out of it, like her uncle taught her, _"It's not about one's self, but about the whole."_ Something Sere would repeat to herself when she was in doubt, now Nessus was in need of her help.


End file.
